179: AI Top and Center, as New Beatles' song is AI Enhanced. Plus, New Tools have been created to Detect DeepFakes. Gwen Way Reviews the 'Brio Box'. Finally, Audiobooks on Spotify, and Holiday Soundbar Advise | Air Date: 11/12 - 11/18/23
November 15, 2023Nathan MummSeason 5Episode 179
TechTime with Nathan Mumm
179: AI Top and Center, as New Beatles' song is AI Enhanced. Plus, New Tools have been created to Detect DeepFakes. Gwen Way Reviews the 'Brio Box'. Finally, Audiobooks on Spotify, and Holiday Soundbar Advise | Air Date: 11/12 - 11/18/23
Ever thought about how eerily precise AI can mimic human physical appearance and voice? Welcome to an episode that dissects this disturbing development and offers insights into what it means for privacy and authenticity. We will also put the spotlight on the ethical questions posed by the use of AI in music, as we talk about the Beatles' AI-assisted song "Now and Then".
Our special guest, Gwen Way, joins us in our gadgets and gear segment, introducing us to the latest trend in tech gadgetry - the Brio Box, a quarterly surprise box that promises a minimum value of $300 per box. We will also delve into the issues with Apple's fulfillment centers and the vulnerability of scams in this holiday season.
Then take a fascinating detour into the world of audiobooks and find out why Spotify is pulling out all the stops to lead this sector. We then provide help for those picking a new sound system for your TV this holiday season. So, buckle up for an hour of illuminating technology discussions, served with a side of whiskey mumbling and plenty of fun.
Episode 179: Starts at 1:28
This week on TechTime with Nathan Mumm® AI is top and center. We will continue our discussion from last week with Phil. This week, we will discuss how Artificial Intelligence has become so advanced that it can now mimic people's physical looks with great accuracy. This has led to some problems, which we will discuss in detail. In other news, the Beatles' 'last' song, 'Now And Then,' was recently finished using AI technology. The song features all four band members and is a genuine Beatles recording. It's quite emotional, and Paul McCartney has described it as "like John was there."
Tune into our live show on TechTimeRadio.com with Nathan Mumm, the show that makes you go "Hmmm" Technology news of the week for November 12th – 18th, 202
--- [Now on Today's Show]: Starts at 2:52 --- [Top Stories in Technology]: Starts at 4:23
New tools could make it easier for the public to detect deepfakes and more difficult for AI systems to create them. - https://tinyurl.com/2t79a2ya
--- [Pick of the Day - Whiskey Tasting Reveal]: Starts at 23:23 John J. Bowman - Single Barrel | 100 Proof| $55 MSRP
--- [Gadgets and Gear with Gwen Way]: Starts at 25:27 We review the BREOBOX - https://www.breobox.com/
--- [This Week in Technology]: Starts at 36:19 November 12, 2000 - Microsoft Declares Tablets Are the Future
--- [Marc's Whiskey Mumble]: Starts at 39:35 Marc Gregoire's review of this week's whiskey
--- [Technology Fail of the Week]: Starts at 44:07 This week’s “Technology Fail” comes to us from APPLE.
--- [Mike's Mesmerizing Moment brought to us by StoriCoffee®]: Starts at 48:11 Question: Holiday Scams are all around us, speaking of scams is there a scam that you were close to being victimized by?
--- [Nathan Nugget]: Starts at 52:32 ARC'ed Out - We explore soundbar Technology for your Holiday Shopping
--- [Pick of the Day Whiskey Review]: Starts at 54:43 John J. Bowman - Single Barrel | 100 Proof| $55 MSRP
Mike: Thumbs Up Nathan: Thumbs Up
Mike Gorday:
Hey, mike. Yeah, what's going on? Hey, have you ever heard of turbo debt? No, what is that? Something? Then get me into debt faster.
Nathan Mumm:
No, turbo debt is not to get you in debt faster. It's to help you get out of debt. Do you have over $10,000 in credit card, personal loans, medical or payday loans? Of course I have debt. That's the American way. Oh, conjourm on prayer. Turbo debt will give you the option to break the debt cycle and start putting money in your pocket. That's awesome. Over 70% of Americans die with credit card debt. Do not let this happen to you. Turbo debt will give you an option to break the debt cycle and start putting money in your pocket. That's awesome. If you have over 10,000 in credit card debt and personal loans, medical or payday loans they can help go to turbo debtcom. Forward slash tech time. Again. That's turbo debtcom. Forward slash tech time. All capitalized for a free consultation. Today, turbo debt is a proud sponsor of this week's episode of tech time radio.
Speaker 3:
Broadcasting across the nation, from the east coast to the west, keeping you up to date on technology While enjoying a little whiskey on the side, with leading-edge topics, along with special guests to navigate technology in a segmented, stylized radio program the information that will make you go, pull up a seat, raise a glass with our hosts as we spend the next hour talking about technology for the common person. Welcome to tech time radio with Nathan mum.
Nathan Mumm:
Welcome to tech time with Nathan mum. The show that makes you go hmm. Technology news of the week the show for the everyday person talking about technology, broadcasting across the nation with insightful segments on subjects weeks ahead of the mainstream media. We welcome our radio audience of 35 million listeners to an hour of insightful technology news each week. Our show covers the weekly top technology Subjects without a political agenda. We verify the facts and we do it with a sense of humor, in less than 60 minutes and, of course, with a little whiskey on the side. We are live streaming during our show on five of the most popular platforms, including YouTube, twitch TV, twitter, slash X, facebook and LinkedIn. We encourage you to visit us online at tech time radio calm and become a patreon supporter at patreoncom forward slash tech time radio.
Nathan Mumm:
I'm Nathan mum, your host, a technologist with over 30 years of technology expertise working for Fortune 500 companies across the country. Today in studio we have, of course, our co-host, mike Gorda. Mike's an award-winning author originally from Arizona. Mike's a human behavior expert living in the Seattle area with a master's degree in forensic Psychology. Mike is here to keep me from geeking out while providing insight into human behavior and how it interacts with technology. We are friends from different backgrounds but bring the best technology show possible every week for our family, friends and fans to enjoy. Welcome everyone. Let's start today's show.
Speaker 3:
Now on today's show.
Nathan Mumm:
Today on tech time with Nathan mum, we have a lot of exciting topics to discuss. In our AI segment, we're continuing our discussion from last week. This week, we're gonna be talking about how artificial intelligence has become so advanced that it can now mimic people's physical looks with great accuracy. This has led to some problems, which we're gonna be discussing in detail. And in other news, the Beatles last song, now and then, was recently finished using AI Technology. The song features all four members of the band and is a genuine Beatles recording. It's quite emotional, said Paul McCartney, who describes it as quote. Like John was there.
Nathan Mumm:
Audio books are hot acid and Spotify is making a run at being the leader. We're gonna be discussing the rise of audio books and how Spotify is trying to dominate the market. And if you're looking to add a sound bar or sound system to your TV, this holiday, we have a nugget that will help you understand the lingo. We'll be discussing the different types of sound systems available and which one is right for you. And, of course, on our make segment, we have Gwen way, who takes us on a holiday venture into our gadgets and gear segment. That will make us all feel very thankful. Alright, as always, we have our pick of the day whiskey tasting during the commercials to see if our selected whiskey pick it's zero, one or two thumbs up at the end of the show. So sit back, raise a glass and welcome to tech time with Nathan mum. Now it's time for the latest headlines in the world of technology.
Speaker 3:
Here are our top technology stories of the week.
Nathan Mumm:
All right. In story number one we have new tools that are gonna make it easier for the public and Users to detect deep fakes and some difficulty for AI systems that are creating them. Let's go to our tech time, tom Geichen, for more on the story.
Speaker 5:
When Scarlett Johansson found out her voice and face had been used to promote an artificial intelligence app online without her consent, the actor took legal action against the app maker, lisa AI. Artificial intelligence has gotten so good at mimicking people's physical looks and voices that it can be hard to tell if they're real or fake. This has become a particular problem for celebrities, for whom trying to stay ahead of the AI bots has become a game of whack-a-mole. Many such deep fakes can float around the internet for weeks, such as a recent one Featuring mr Beast, in which an unauthorized likeness of the social media personality can be seen hawking $2 iPhones. What can be done about this? This week's show has a few new tools to combat AI. Back to you in the studio.
Nathan Mumm:
All right. So yeah, we're talking about.
Nathan Mumm:
We talked about this last, about this last week with Phil so for those that weeks on in we son in, but now there's actually tools, and we talked about this one. Chat gpt first came on out. There were kids that were using it to write essays for school, and then this, this company, came on out with a kind of AI tester for documentation. It's a software program to detect if you're doing AI generated, guess what. We have two we're gonna be talking about today. We have one that's called Generative AI.
Nathan Mumm:
Ning Xing, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in st Louis, says that AI is being misused, and he's actually created a way to have it combat Against other AI tools, called anti-fake. That's his application. It scrambles the signal Such that it prevents the AI based synthesizing engine from generating an effective copycat. Essentially, anti-fake was inspired by the University of Chicago's a similar tool aimed at protecting visual artists from having their work Scraped during AI models. This research, though, is still very near. The team is presenting the project later this month at a major security Conference in Denmark. It's not currently clear how it will scale, though, but the essence of this is, before publishing a video online, you would upload the voice track to the anti-fake platform, which can be used as a standalone app or access via the web, and then the anti-fake scrambles the audio signal so that it confuses AI models. The modified track will still sound normal to the human ear, but it'll sound messed up for systems that import it, creating an unclean cloned version of this.
Mike Gorday:
So so you have to, you have to use this as part of your Process now it's a pub, not something that can go in and just Do that on audio files that are already online.
Nathan Mumm:
Correct. So the tool anti-fake that they're talking about is this application. Let's say me and you decide that we're gonna release an album Right, because we're great singers, right, so we're gonna be doing a blues album. I guess what we would do is we would see that happening, alright. So essentially, I take this song that we'd have these lyrics, I have us in the video that would be singing and dancing and doing everything, and what it does is it adds a security layer to the actual data itself, so that if you're watching it as a human and he says that we won't be able to detect the screeches or the items that will be there, it'll be plain normal. But any AI system, in the way that it goes through the algorithm and how it would actually use to replicate it, would essentially make it unusable as media.
Mike Gorday:
Okay, well, that's great, but, like I said, you have to have this available to you. So we're using stuff right now that doesn't have this attached to it. We're uploading our voices onto the internet Even after we were to start using this. Couldn't the AI just come along and use these models?
Nathan Mumm:
So, yeah, we're gonna talk about the other application called deep fake detection, but before we go there. Okay, so there's two applications we're gonna talk about but this application. So what's gonna happen is it's always kind of this chicken and egg syndrome, where someone will come on out with an anti-protection process and then you have someone that's gonna try to crack it and then once they get it cracked in the person will.
Nathan Mumm:
This is as old as time itself. This is the beginning of how Mac, if you, made all of his fortunes with antivirus and then producing the viruses, and then antivirus and then producing viruses.
Mike Gorday:
This is just an arms race. This is exactly what's been going on throughout human history forever.
Nathan Mumm:
Well, we're gonna be talking a lot about that.
Mike Gorday:
I got a chariot.
Nathan Mumm:
Oh crap.
Speaker 3:
I need to do something about that.
Mike Gorday:
I have this.
Nathan Mumm:
Alright. So second software is called deep fake detection. Deep fake detection essentially uses digital watermarks. So we're all familiar with watermarks, right? Sometimes, if you have a watermark something you sometimes see in the bottom right hand corner of a movie that maybe you downloaded off the internet that says the property of something, something or something to use so that anybody knows that you duplicate something.
Mike Gorday:
It's funny how we're using watermark as something this internet.
Nathan Mumm:
Well so essentially, this software uses a gap where it actually goes through and it tries to determine things on social media and other areas that have been posted so this is one that's already been posted and what it does is it goes through and it takes a look at misused and abused artifacts. So when you do deep fake, they're trying to be very, very simple and what's going on. And so when you look really, really closely, if you zoom in most of the time at your neck models, you'll see pixelation in there that is abnormal to your actual neck if you would zoom into it. So what this software does is it goes through and essentially looks for anything that would have these artifacts and digital watermarks that would be there saying guess what? We know that it's fake itself.
Mike Gorday:
Okay, so this is this for images, or is this for also sound files and everything?
Nathan Mumm:
So this is really for video files, the deep fake, the deep fake detection, and essentially it's being used now by Meta has purchased a licensing for that Of course.
Nathan Mumm:
Google has purchased some, so there was some of these online major competitors out there in the AI race are purchasing this so that, essentially, if you're posting a video on YouTube or on Facebook, that they can use this simpler software to take a look and see if it's just instantly deep faked by Joe Blown his basement or if it's actually someone that spent a lot of time to try to make a look there.
Nathan Mumm:
Did you also know the US Senate announced that they will be discussing a new bipartisan bill for, essentially, the act to keep entertainment safe of 2023. Essentially, this is a new bill that will provide a uniformed federal law that currently looks at the rights of people's properties of once they have passed away and identities that are being used for commercial promotion without their consent. So essentially, this is the Hollywood actors Guild has helped with this. Many other really the kind of high profile individuals have helped this bill go into place and they're in the process of looking to have a bill that, if someone does deep fake and all of a sudden, we have all these popular people around to fight the good fight for all of all the people that don't got that all the celebrities are what's helping keep this deep faking and check yeah, how about that?
Nathan Mumm:
there you go alright. So those are two applications. They are kind of out there to make you not have to worry about AI as much. Now, if you see Mr Beast on a TikTok or YouTube saying that he's gonna give you an iPhone 15 for $2, common sense should be that you're not gonna believe that that's really Mr Beast.
Mike Gorday:
Yeah, common sense doesn't exist. Okay, that's a thing that we we rely on but, it's really not applicable to human behavior.
Nathan Mumm:
Alright, let's move on to story number two. This is a AI story that will make a lot of people sing Okay, right, maybe.
Speaker 3:
I don't know.
Mike Gorday:
Alright, so several months has it been, that has it been. It's been like a year or more, I think. We did a. We did a story on an AI that completed a Beatles song.
Nathan Mumm:
That was about two years ago, about two years ago. That was about two years ago. We did it in studio a couple weeks before it main mainstream news.
Mike Gorday:
We've got another one, okay, and it's the Beatles again, alright. And we've got another AI, that's finishing. The Beatles last song called Now and Then Okay, alright. This week the Beatles finally released their hotly anticipated last song and, as many fans speculated, the record is completed version of John Lennon's love song called Now and Then. Paul McCartney first tease. The song release this June on BBC Radio 4.
Mike Gorday:
The record has a long history, which includes a demo recorded by Lennon in the late 70s in his residence at the Dakota in New York. As producer Giles Martin explains, a big part of why Now and Then has been in production limbo for so long is due to the poor quality of the cassette tape on which he originally recorded. Okay, their very original recording is just him playing the piano with the TV in the background. That's part of this technology that they use. They can now extract John from the piano and from the television. Okay, essentially, what the machine learning does is it recognizes someone's voice. So if you and I have a conversation, we're in a crowded room and there's a piano playing in the background, we can teach the AI what the sound of your voice, the sound of my voice, and they can extract those voices, and that is how the AI is used now and then, and it's similar to the demixing process Peter Jackson's team used to make the Beatles get back, which we reported on two years ago, yep.
Mike Gorday:
In addition to isolating Lennon's vocals, martin and McCartney added a new string arrangement. Lennon worked on George Harrison's guitar parts and Ringo Starr re-recorded the drums on now and then. Martin says he's well aware of the skepticism expressed by Beatles purists, as well as the ethical questions raised by the use of AI and music. He says it's use in this case brings out a new vibrancy to the band's former recordings. It was important that the changes that we made were authentic. Paul said you know we need to follow George's rhythm and it was really interesting how he worked. It was like we need to concentrate on the Beatles and what they're doing, like they're in the room. Martin said that was the magic of. It Comes from the heart and from the right place, and Paul's desire to collaborate with John, even though he can't even the song itself, is almost John's love letter to Paul in a way. Now and then I miss you. That's how it was felt and it felt incredibly special doing it.
Nathan Mumm:
Alright. So if you're a Beatles fan, I like Beatles music. I wouldn't consider myself a fan, though. I just like listening to some of their music.
Mike Gorday:
If you're a purist you see in the sky with diamonds, I guess. Okay, there you go.
Nathan Mumm:
So if you're a purist, are you excited about this album, or you're like, oh, I don't know, because what they did is they essentially added somebody to a track of drums, which is easy to overlay on top of other music.
Mike Gorday:
I don't know that you can call this a purist versus a technology person because, we're using the technology here to extract the original versions and putting them in together. So there you know. We, we all know that the Beatles can't perform. So you know, if you have somebody out there that that doesn't like the song, that could be Not necessarily a Beatles purist, but somebody who doesn't like technology very much. Okay, that's a good way to take a look at it All right.
Nathan Mumm:
Well, that is kind of exciting. You know, they've always been able to lay tracks. For a long time You've been able to lay tracks. But the problem was, was this tape had television in the background, some talking in the background, so they isolated and removed all of that, got it to this pure form and created it. That's, that's pretty, that's that is.
Mike Gorday:
I think you know they're still ethical issues that go along with it there is all right.
Nathan Mumm:
Story number three audio books are a hot asset and Spotify is making a run to become the leader. Let's go to Kyren Ladd for more on the story.
Speaker 6:
Audio book lovers across the US rejoice. As of last week, spotify premium users in the US join those in the UK and Australia as they make over 200,000 audio books available as part of Spotify premium subscriptions. You'll simply start seeing audio books marked as included in premium that you can hit play on right away. Now considered the largest audio book catalog online, including over 70% of best-selling titles over the last 10 years. Audible users from Amazon watch out as Spotify is growing at a rapid pace.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, so this is kind of an interesting deal. Have you ever listened to an audio book on tape?
Mike Gorday:
Yeah.
Nathan Mumm:
Okay, have you ever listened to an audio book on audible? That says the largest? Well, it was one of the largest. It was the largest. It was the largest audible Book collection on Amazon.
Mike Gorday:
I did. I did when I was able to listen to it for a reduced price than what it is now. Okay, so what if I told you, expensive those?
Nathan Mumm:
things those pretty. Let me tell you right now Spotify premium, which is kind of Spotify's Spotify plus. Yeah, spotify plus is essentially taking head-to-head Competition against the audio book leader, and during this report I found out some really interesting Information regarding how many people are listening to audiobooks. That blew me out of the mind. I am not a big audiobook listener and when I grew up I thought a big book person. Well, I love magazines, but those aren't bucks, I guess.
Mike Gorday:
so yeah, those are a lot of pictures.
Nathan Mumm:
So essentially, audiobooks is becoming the new entertainment Selection for listening to this. On, a consumer survey over over 10,000 younger Americans showed that the younger generations are Taking the audiobook listening. Gen Z and millennials lead in audiobook listening overall, with 72% of the 18 to 34 year old Demographic reporting they listen to audiobooks daily. Mm-hmm yeah daily.
Mike Gorday:
Yeah, I Listened to the audiobook Quarterly but I think you listen to an auto audiobook every 25 years or so a little bit better than that, but I did not understand how many people are listening to it.
Nathan Mumm:
Essentially in this report it says that again, the 18 to 34 demographic, with 72% listen daily, 63% listen to it to relax. 51% are the top emotional associated audiobook listening items to get listened to each and every day. So relaxation is the largest part of doing it and audiobooks, specifically that are associated with relaxation are 51% of the top books selected to listen to.
Ody:
Okay, oh, do you listen to audio books? Well, I was gonna say that my gender it, because it's my generation generation yeah, my generation doesn't really have the time to like Sit down and read a book.
Mike Gorday:
No, you know, you don't have not, you don't have not the time, you have not the patience.
Ody:
No, I don't think it's not the patience, because I don't know my friend who works at the airport all she has to sit an hour in traffic. Yeah and music doesn't always cut it, she'll use that time to listen to audiobooks or podcast. Okay that's something to do like multitask, while she's wasting that time driving, because she can't be reading a book while driving.
Mike Gorday:
She's you know well you can, it's just not recommended. I used to read books while I was in LA.
Nathan Mumm:
She's know the majority of fast food restaurants now allow you to have an earbud in While you're working on a drive-thru. Yeah, and listen to audiobooks, not to music.
Mike Gorday:
But if you have an audio inundated with input that, yeah, I mean that's, it's crazy.
Nathan Mumm:
I just pulled up to Burger King Last week or week before wherever I don't want to maybe a couple days ago, and as you pulled on in, she had again an iPod in her ear and she was doing this and I was getting ready and said, oh, are you guys allowed us being nicer? Are you allowed to listen to music? She said no, we can't listen to music or anything, but we can listen to any books. I was like dang Okay, so that is a Big area and Spotify wants to be the right. There are already number two with this new deal. They're now number two in the list and they are immediately going for.
Mike Gorday:
You know that's that's interesting, but I think it's interesting in a different way for me, because with an audio book you're not really paying attention. You just have this kind of a droning voice going on and you're doing other tasks Okay.
Nathan Mumm:
So you don't think they comprehend as much.
Mike Gorday:
I don't think there is as much comprehension with listening to audio, especially if you're doing other things. Okay, Because you can't really comprehend something you have to concentrate on when you're reading a book. You have to concentrate on the topic.
Ody:
There you go.
Nathan Mumm:
All right. Well, that ends our top technology stories of the week. Moving on, we have Gwen Wade joining us for our Gadgets and Gear segment after the commercial break. You will not want to miss this segment. You're listening to Tech Time with Nathan Mum. See you after the break Time. Welcome back to Tech Time with Nathan Mum. Tech Time is a weekly technology show that talks about current technology in a simple format without having to geek out. Brought to you by myself, Nathan Mum and Micro Day. We just had our first whiskey tasting during the break. Now let me tell you what we are sipping in our pick of the day During the show. Today we have chosen the John J Bowman single barrel $155. Now, from the Bowman's website, it says our John J Bowman bourbon celebrates the great uncle of Abraham S Bowman. Bowman. Bowman, like the cards Great, great uncle. A great great uncle who founded A Smith Bowen Distillery.
Nathan Mumm:
Colonel John J Bowman was a Virginia Militia officer in the American Revolutionary War and the first military commander and governor of Kentucky County. We hand select some of the oldest barrels in the warehouse to produce a single barrel bourbon with hints of toffee. I did taste that leather. Well, I don't know if that's what we should be talking about. Figs and almonds the Sazerac Company is the company that is producing this. The classification is straight bourbon. This is again 100 proof. Mash Bill is undisclosed and there is no age statement, rumored to be about eight to 10 years. Man, that was a kick.
Mike Gorday:
Yeah we're gonna have to see if that smooths out over time.
Nathan Mumm:
It was a little bit heavy on the kick. Good flavor though, and it does have a flavor, and you know I'm not getting an after bite. Are you getting an after bite into it?
Mike Gorday:
No, no, so that's a good finish.
Nathan Mumm:
It's got a good finish, all right. Well, make sure you stay through the show to see if we give it a thumbs up or thumbs down by Micorday and myself. We do not have Mark in studio, so the Mark Mumbles is going to be read by our one and only Micorday. I can't wait to see what that happens there.
Mike Gorday:
All right.
Nathan Mumm:
With our first whiskey segment tasting complete, let's move on to our feature segment. Today we have Gwen Wei joining the show. She's an expert in cybersecurity during the day and a game board geek in the evenings. Producer of Tech Time Radio and our gadgets and gear gal. Let's get ready to start our commercial video stream to start this next segment.
Speaker 3:
What's new in our gadgets and gear.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, Gwen. Welcome to the show today.
Gwen Way:
Thank you. Thank you, it's good to be here.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, okay. Well, we had a subject pop up last night during our production meeting and I want to talk to you about it before we get on to our gadget of the month and the gadget of the month. It kind of reminds me of the Clark Griswold saying where it kind of is over and over and over again, kind of like when you get the Jell-O of the month club. So I kind of like some of the aspects of this in our gadget and gear. But you work for a cybersecurity company, right?
Gwen Way:
I sure do, and there's a lot going on right now.
Nathan Mumm:
Let me tell you there is and so we were specifically talking about last night essentially a large airplane company which is called Boeing, the United States's largest aerospace company that we have had a breach of data and that they decided not to pay the ransomware. Can you explain a little bit about this? We always say that it's not good to pay the ransomware. A lot of the times I get called in, or if you get called in, or I'm sure Nick gets called in that's normally the question do I pay the ransomware, do I not pay the ransomware? Boeing was pretty aggressive about this and said we're not going to pay the ransomware. And tell us a little bit about this story, can you?
Gwen Way:
That is definitely the way to go. So the biggest problem that you have when you pay a ransom is that you then go on the list of people who paid their ransom. Suddenly, everybody's hitting you up because they know that they can get money out of you Definitely not a good look. So there are three basic things that we recommend. Number one whether you're a mom and pop or a big enterprise like Boeing, make sure that your backups are set up and make sure to check them regularly. Number two have an incident response plan in place. At this point, in this environment, there is no guarantee that you won't be hacked. In fact, there's almost a guarantee that you will one way or the other, and knowing what the plan of response is prior to getting attacked makes a world of difference in the final outcome. And then the third thing to keep in mind is do not pay that ransom. Don't get on that list. Once you're on the list of somebody who pays, you're just going to be hit over and over and over.
Nathan Mumm:
Okay. So they chose not to pay and essentially they decided to post a bunch of information out there and what it ended up becoming was absolutely nonsense data Right. So it was like IT backups, it procedures, stuff that were pretty insignificant to the Boeing aerospace industry itself. I'm seeing more and more of a trend when people are actually breaking into these companies now, where they'll pretend like they have a lot of sensitive data and they'll act as if oh, we have you here. Here let me show you the most juiciest part that I can, and a lot of the times the data that they have is pretty insignificant.
Speaker 3:
So is this a trend you?
Nathan Mumm:
guys are seeing too, or is this just something that I'm seeing out there?
Gwen Way:
Oh no, that's very legitimate. It's kind of like the old 90s movie hackers, where the dude gets into the Gibson and steals the trash files. Well, in that case it actually came to something. But nine times out of 10, your trash files are just that they're trash, they're garbage. They're not going to actually give hackers anything that they can get money for.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, okay, there you go. That was an interesting job. Okay, now let's get on to the why you're here, the best part of the show, in my opinion the gadgets and gear segment, the segment that saves me no money that Gwen's doing it now than when I used to do it, but that's okay. It's much better done. We're going to talk about a specific item today. That's a little bit different. We were off the mark where last time we spoke, we did not have a kick starter, and we're not going kick starter again. We're trying to get some in for the holidays, so you don't have to do a kick starter now and get it three holidays from now. So tell us what are we looking at for your recommended gadget and gear?
Gwen Way:
Well, this is super exciting because it's not one gadget, it's not one piece of gear, it's multiple. What we're looking at is a subscription box called Brio box. It's B-R-E-O box.
Ody:
Okay.
Gwen Way:
And what it is is a chunk of gadgets at least $300 for value per box that chips out seasonally. This is something you can get for yourself if you really like gadgets, or if Mrs Mom is looking for a present. You can also give this as a gift.
Nathan Mumm:
All right. So explain these gift boxes. So is this something that comes every month? Is this something that comes quarterly? Is it comes once a year? I did this for a whiskey club once and I was supposed to get stuff every month and it ended up being every quarter and by the time I got it I was like, yeah, it was just kind of okay. So explain what's in the box, how often do we get this and what's the cost.
Gwen Way:
This is a quarterly box. Okay, we'll start with that and then we'll also start with the cost, because I think those are two very important things to get out of the way. Okay, so you will get this once every three months. Okay, if you buy an individual box, either for yourself or for somebody as a gift, it's $159 per box and it will auto renew. If you decide to pay for a full year, you actually get that full year for $579, which means you're saving about $85. I think it's actually $87 to be exact.
Nathan Mumm:
Okay, all right, so you get it quarterly. That's a pretty good amount. Now what? You're spending $1.50 on these boxes, right? How much is the value in these boxes that you're getting? I saw some of the items and so, again, the website that the people can go to to order these is what's that website?
B-R-E-O-B-O-Xcom. Okay, so tell me what's the value in these items that you get?
Gwen Way:
So it's a minimum of about $300 per box. Okay, and it can be any kinds of things like I've seen drones. We actually talked briefly last night about the Ember Cup, which was another contender for being talked about today. It's a really cool smart mug that stays warm. They handed those out last year in one of the boxes, so you get things like that. Sometimes you'll get something for the house, an air purifier, for example. It's just little bits and pieces of tech gadgetry that is fun, and every box has its own theme.
Mike Gorday:
Okay, so this is. I remain unmoved by this. You're not excited about this, or you're?
Nathan Mumm:
excited about it? No so far.
Mike Gorday:
So far I've heard I'm going to pay a lot of money for stuff that I don't know what I'm getting. That could be like a let's make a deal deal. Well, I think that's kind of the idea about these type of mystery boxes yeah, I've seen all kinds of these, so I'm not really a fan of mystery boxes. I was at PAX.
Nathan Mumm:
I was at PAX right and they had literally this whole wall of just themed items and people are waiting in 40-minute lines to go in and buy a mystery box You're buying something.
Mike Gorday:
This is kind of like going to a conference and getting a bunch of swag.
Nathan Mumm:
Well, I don't know, at the conference swag though, you throw away half of it before you load it back up on the suitcase right, at least half Well, yeah, but this is the way I feel about this one. Okay, do you like being surprised? So this, I guess the attraction to this.
Mike Gorday:
No, if I'm paying for something, I don't want to be surprised. You don't want to be surprised. No, it's like if I'm paying for a car, I want to know that I'm paying for the car that I'm getting. I don't want to pay for like a car with two missing tires. Okay, well.
Nathan Mumm:
So for other people I mean for like me I like seeing what is in the box. What if I got lucky and I got something that is See, that's my point. It's kind of like gambling. It is kind of like gambling.
Mike Gorday:
You remember, let's Make a Deal.
Nathan Mumm:
I don't know if you oh, absolutely, it's like, what do you? What do you?
Mike Gorday:
If you have an egg in your purse, I'll give you a hundred bucks.
Nathan Mumm:
Yeah, you know you can have this, and then come on up here and I got a car over here. Yeah, that's right.
Mike Gorday:
I have a car over here and then I have this box over here. You want the box?
Nathan Mumm:
Yeah, he said or do you want to take the car with you?
Mike Gorday:
No, I always take the car. You always take the car, I always take the car. You take the box. Okay, you want a goat?
Nathan Mumm:
I'm like okay.
Gwen Way:
So At least you get cheese.
Nathan Mumm:
Yeah. So you, I mean, you don't enjoy that this part, or meat, you don't enjoy that part of not knowing and then being surprised. No, not if I'm paying for it, it's okay.
Mike Gorday:
I don't do.
Nathan Mumm:
This is sort of this is addicted to me. I like this.
Mike Gorday:
I like this I understand, I understand, but for me I'm like no, not really Okay all right, make a surprise present to yourself I should order.
Nathan Mumm:
That was what it's like.
Mike Gorday:
I get enough surprises without sending them to myself that I don't really need them.
Gwen Way:
All right. Lastly I think it's super positive at least. Oh, that's right.
Nathan Mumm:
So is there a Black Friday deal available, coming on up for a Brio box.
Gwen Way:
There are a couple of Black Friday deals Right now. If you go on their website that's BrioBoxcom as a reminder, you can actually sign up to be notified about the Black Friday deals. From memory, what they did last year was about a week before they started sending you messages saying these are what you can expect and these are the deals that you can expect. You also have the opportunity, usually around Black Friday, to buy some of their past boxes. So if you're looking through some of their boxes, you look at the summer box and they're like gee, I really want that water bottle. I want that KeySmart iPro by the summer box.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, there you go, all right, okay, all right, Gwen.
Mike Gorday:
Thank you, are the past boxes cheaper than the.
Nathan Mumm:
Yeah, aren't they about $25 cheaper?
Gwen Way:
They're usually between $25 and $50 cheaper, depending on which one you go for.
Mike Gorday:
I'm still not gonna do it. I just want to know.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, great Thanks you so much. All right, Gwen, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Gwen Way:
Thank you.
Nathan Mumm:
Hi Gwen.
Gwen Way:
Happy Thanksgiving for those listeners out there.
Nathan Mumm:
That's right, okay. Well, that ends our segment Gadgets and Gear with Gwen Way. Up next, we have this week in technology, so now would be a great time to enjoy a little whiskey on the side, as we'll be doing so during the break. You're listening to Tech Time Radio with Nathan Mum. See you in a few minutes.
Mike Gorday:
How to See a man About a Dog. It combines darkly comic short stories, powerful poems and pulp fiction prose to create a heartbreaking and hilarious journey readers will not soon forget. Read how to See a man About a Dog. Collected writings for free with Kindle. Unlimited he book available on Kindle. Print copies available on Amazon, the repository, and more.
Speaker 3:
And now let's look back at this week in technology.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, we're looking all the way back to November 12, 2000. Microsoft declares tablets are the future. In the first year, as Microsoft Corporation's chief software architect, bill Gates, announced at the annual State of the Industry to a crowd of more than 12,000 individuals at the Comdex Fall 2010 D-List at the MGM Grand Arena that essentially, the tablet PC will represent the next major evolution in PC design and functionality. However, the tablet PC initiative never really took off, and it wasn't until Apple introduced the iPad in 2010,. 10 years later, the tablet computing became widely adopted. Likely, the lesson that Microsoft learned from this early effort led to Microsoft manufacturing its own hardware later, in the brand they call Surface Tablets, starting in the late 2010s, mimicking the model of the Apple that was proven successful. Now you have yourself a surface over there. As a matter of fact, how's your tablet doing?
Mike Gorday:
I enjoy it's both features. You know I like having the features of the tablet where. I can scroll with my, with the touchscreen, and then I have, you know, of course, the keyboard, and I don't have my pin. My pin fell off, my stylus fell off somewhere. I gotta find my stylus, but you know having it work as a regular computer.
Nathan Mumm:
And so Surface really did well. The first tablet that Bill tried to push was a little too early by 10 years, let me just tell you.
Mike Gorday:
he they did not have the technology. That's the way it is with people. Yeah, we're not ready for certain things.
Nathan Mumm:
It takes a while, I mean, everybody was gonna be buying, amazon was gonna be the bookstore place of the future, right, and it took everybody like 15 years to adopt buying books on there, let alone buying all the rest of the items that were there.
Mike Gorday:
So all right. Amazon's like we're everywhere.
Nathan Mumm:
Now we all buy it and we don't know what happens if the Amazon delivery driver doesn't hit our driveway each and every day. So there you go. That was this week in technology. Have you ever wanted to watch some tech time history With over 107 weekly broadcasts, spending for three plus years, video podcasts and blog information? You can visit techtimeradiocom to watch our older shows or join the Tech Timers Facebook group to talk with us live all the time Gwen's on there, so if you wanna ask Gwen about a gadget, you can do that, or ask us technology information. We're gonna take a commercial break now. When we return, we have the Marks Mumble Whiskey Review and our technology fail the week. See you after the break.
Speaker 9:
Hello, my name is Arthur and my life's work is connecting people with coffee. Story Coffee is a small batch specialty coffee company that uses technology to connect people to each product resource, which allows farmers to unlock their economic freedom. Try our Medium Roads Founder Series Coffee, which is an exotic bourbon variety that is smooth, fresh and elegant. At storycoffeecom that's S-T-O-R-I coffeecom. Today, you can get your first bag free when you subscribe at storycoffeecom with code techtime that's S-T-O-R-I coffeecom.
Speaker 3:
The segment we've been waiting all week for Marks Whiskey Mumble.
Mike Gorday:
I don't know where Mark finds his stuff, but he needs a new source, does he?
Nathan Mumm:
He is always so excited when he finds his stuff too. Isn't that amazing?
Mike Gorday:
Yes, today is November the 14th, okay, and according to Marks Mumble, it is National Family PJ Day.
Nathan Mumm:
National Family PJ Day.
Mike Gorday:
Yes and pajamas. He actually has it written up like pajamas and jammies yes, this day reminds us that the real comfort lies in spending time with our family as we all rock our matching PJs. Pajamas, lovingly known as PJs or jammies, are the ultimate comfort wear. National Family PJ Day encourages all Americans to pull their favorite jammies out of the closet and lounge with their families.
Nathan Mumm:
All right.
Mike Gorday:
So let me just tell you this this is like walking in the Walmart and seeing people in their jammies. I just you know that that is pretty. It's not pretty disturbing.
Nathan Mumm:
I actually walking in a Walmart and seeing people in Walmart, the way they dress, that alone is alarming.
Mike Gorday:
I don't know why. You know why we tolerate some of the stuff that we tolerate, okay, but you know.
Nathan Mumm:
I have you ever langed around with your kids in pajamas?
Mike Gorday:
No, I don't do pajamas. Okay, you don't do pajamas. No Is your clothes are on or clothes are off, that's basically it Okay, that's you know I'm not you probably have the footy pajamas where you can just walk around on a carpet and shock people. No, I don't have one of those with the back door.
Nathan Mumm:
I'm not a big pajama guy myself either. Maybe during the holidays, like Christmas morning, you know we'll wake up and my wife will buy pajamas for everybody, and my boys love it. But we I grew up with two boys, my two boys and I never langed around in pajamas.
Mike Gorday:
No, we never langed in no never.
Nathan Mumm:
Now. My youngest son never wears jeans and he always has got like sweatpants on.
Mike Gorday:
But that's a little different. No, that's a little, you know, that's-.
Nathan Mumm:
That's a little bit different. That's like jammies. Is that like jammies?
Ody:
Does that count with sweatpants and jammies? I think so. Yeah, Okay, All right Well okay, here we go.
Mike Gorday:
Yeah, what are you doing, okay?
Nathan Mumm:
All right, okay, here he goes.
Mike Gorday:
Anyway, tell us about the whiskey now as we move from PJs-.
Nathan Mumm:
Who knew we were going to spend four minutes on a PJ?
Mike Gorday:
segment? I don't know. John J Bowman single barrel yes, it's a stretch. Currently the company doesn't produce their own whiskey distillate Does not disclose who they source it from. It is believed the new make they use originates from Buffalo Trace and is their number one mash bill. John J Bowman single barrel is triple distilled. It's unclear how many times a Smith Bowman re-distills it's through their unique copper still, but it is rumored to be twice distilled at Buffalo Trace and once at a Smith Bowman. The company then ages the whiskey on site in Virginia. The whiskey has been described as being more mellow and easygoing than other bourbons. Mark thinks that this would be the perfect one for Nathan while he's out, as he tends to like the basic stuff, as long as it has a cork. Wow, which that's true.
Nathan Mumm:
That is true, but we were just saying this is pretty good before the break when we came back. I haven't joined this a lot.
Mike Gorday:
As it breeze a little bit, it loses that harsh. This is my jam. Mark knows me really well. Well, yeah, your jam is cheap. This whiskey will not make it to Mark's shelf again. It's not bad, but just nothing special for the price. I like it.
Nathan Mumm:
It's got a very nice flavor and I don't actually taste any of that leather.
Mike Gorday:
It has to sit out a little bit before you start sipping on it.
Nathan Mumm:
All right. Well, Mark, thanks for that mumble.
Mike Gorday:
Unless you like the bite at the very beginning, yeah, we thank Mark for the mumble.
Nathan Mumm:
Of course whiskey and technology is such a great pairing. Oh no, just like the pairing of turkey and gravy for Thanksgiving and meal, right, I mean, can you have turkey?
Mike Gorday:
without the gravy. Yes, you can Wow, you're so predictable.
Nathan Mumm:
Oh, there you go. I'll just wait till next week. We got pumpkin pie and whipped cream. All right, here we go. Now let's get ready for our technology fail of the week, brought to you by Elite Executive Services technology experts to help you out of a technology fail. Stop yawning, we are out of time. Congratulations, you're a failure.
Speaker 6:
Oh I failed. Did I yes, did I yes. Did I.
Nathan Mumm:
Yes, all right. This technology fail comes to us from Apple. A man orders an iPhone 15 Pro from Apple and instead gets an Android copy of a phone. A man ordered an iPhone Pro 15, got a nasty surprise in the mail a fairly convincing Android-based copy of the iPhone. Ed, who is the COO for the Cloud Software Provider at work, from Syria, england, ordered the phone directly from Apple's website, with legitimate tracking all the way and confirmation emails from both Apple and DPD. But once the package arrived, something was off. Indeed, the phone looked like one that Ed had ordered the iPhone 15 Pro, in a natural titanium with 256 gigabytes of RAM, and the packaging appeared genuine. But on closer inspection it became obvious that the device was actually an Android phone running a software skin that mimics Apple's iOS user interface.
Nathan Mumm:
Numerous details gave the scam away. The phone had a screen protector on the phone itself. Apple's iPhones never come with a protector. Those cost an additional $39 to get. Let me tell you. So. Its display had a noticeable chin at the bottom. Essentially, their glass covers the whole face of it, so it doesn't have a plastic part at the bottom.
Nathan Mumm:
And it came with several apps already loaded, including Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, which again, is something that Apple never does. So the first time you open an Apple iPhone and ask you for your name and ask you for your iCloud information, you have to configure it. Ed said that Apple has been very accommodating so far because he reached out to them, Though the issue hasn't been resolved yet. Ed may not be the only person that's a victim of this scam. A recent TikTok user described a very similar issue, with an Android fake coming in the mail instead of the legitimate ordered iPhone i15 Pro Max. So where are these coming from? So these are coming from direct order from Apple site. So that means there's a.
Mike Gorday:
Does Apple use franchises?
Nathan Mumm:
Well, they use fulfillment centers across the globe. So you have a fulfillment center that looks like, that has knockoff phones that are pretty high end and pretty quick, that come with an iOS emulator that looks like an Apple iOS that they are sending out directly from Apple.
Mike Gorday:
Somebody's scraping off the top.
Nathan Mumm:
Yeah, so we reached out and other people have reached out to get from Apple information regarding this. They are being very mum's the word on this and they're not saying anything about it. But this is not the first time that this has happened, specifically with the new Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max orders, and other people have had it. So it looks like one of their fulfillment centers has been ransacked with artificial phones. So if you order one.
Mike Gorday:
That's not the correct word for ransacked. Well, okay, inundated, inundated.
Nathan Mumm:
With Android device knockoff phones. If you order an iPhone 15 Pro Max, make sure it does not come with a screen saver and make sure it is not an Android device.
Mike Gorday:
Well, I'm not gonna order one, so I don't have to worry about it.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, we're gonna head out to our last commercial break. When we return, we still have Mike's mesmerizing moment, brought to us by Story Coffee and a possible absolutely Nathan Nugget pick of the day. So sit back, raise a glass.
Speaker 9:
You're listening to Tech Time with Nathan, mum, hello my name is Arthur and my life's work is connecting people with coffee. Story Coffee is a small batch specialty coffee company that uses technology to connect people to each product resource, which allows farmers to unlock their economic freedom. Try our Medium Roads Founder Series Coffee, which is an exotic bourbon variety that is smooth, fresh and elegant. At storycoffeecom, that's S-T-O-R-I coffeecom. Today, you can get your first bag free when you subscribe at storycoffeecom with code TechTime. That's S-T-O-R-I coffeecom.
Nathan Mumm:
This is Mike's mesmerizing moment, presented by Story Coffee. Visit storycoffeecom. All right, mike, your mesmerizing moment today. We're in the holiday. Scams are all around us. Human nature has us fail all the time. Speaking of scams, is there a scam that you were close to being victimized by in the last couple? Are you seriously asking me that?
Mike Gorday:
question yeah, yeah Because. I got scammed the other day, I know. So let's talk about that.
Nathan Mumm:
I kind of knew that but let's talk a little bit about that. So this is happening all the time, and even the best prepared people can get scammed if they're not paying attention. If they're not paying attention or they're tired or frustrated.
Mike Gorday:
Our emotional state has a lot to do with how we respond to some of these items, because they rely on that. This is just continual beating on the door until somebody ends up in the middle. Nobody answers it. Hey so they kind of go through here.
Mike Gorday:
So, what happened with me is I went down to Seattle and, as you know, when you go on down into the city you have to pay for parking and you can pay for. They have all these apps and things where you can pay all over the place. So I pull into this parking spot and they have a big sign up there and it says download the app. So I'm not thinking about it, I'm rushed, I gotta get to where I'm going. I'm a little tired because it was after the show, yeah. So I go to this website and it automatically has me start putting in information and, because I'm not paying attention, I start putting in information and I even put my card information in there because my brain is telling me this is the app for the parking. And then as soon as I hit you know done, this whole different thing shows up.
Mike Gorday:
You know I had signed up for some online game and got charged 40 bucks Got charged 40 bucks for it, and had to go and get my card changed out, had to go to my bank and say, hey, you know, I got scammed.
Nathan Mumm:
I need to make sure that this charge doesn't go through and I got a new card and did you actually scan like a QR code for that to start out the scam or did you? I think there was a QR code on the board Yep that.
Mike Gorday:
I Over the right of it and then, because of these, things are happening so quickly and your state of emotional being or your state of being is such that it is, you can't. Human beings aren't designed to be constantly on alert. Yeah, but our modern system, our modern society, has put us in these positions where we're always on alert for something and that gets exhausting and we start missing cues and we start missing things. So it's easy for us to get sidetracked when we're trying to do something as simple as paying for a parking lot. Yep that something happens. So what actually had happened was the QR code on the board, and I don't know if it was something that was stuck on there after the fact, but it mimicked the pay app.
Speaker 5:
Yep.
Mike Gorday:
And it was. Instead, it was an advertisement for this gaming company. So, yeah, I mean, this happens too. This is why I get so frustrated with some of this technology that we talk about quite a bit. It's because it's literally the amount of input that we're dealing with on a daily basis is so much more than what it used to be when. I was younger and even the generations that came before us. We didn't have this much input that was constantly keeping us on guard and exhausting us.
Nathan Mumm:
Well, I'm glad that you got it taken care of.
Mike Gorday:
Yeah, it was. Just it was a pain in the neck because I knew it immediately it did too. I was like oh crap.
Nathan Mumm:
You're like ah, okay, all right now let's head on.
Speaker 3:
That wasn't the word I used.
Mike Gorday:
I know it was a little bit more colorful.
Nathan Mumm:
We're gonna have to dump a lot of those words. All right, let's get ready for our nugget of the week. Nugget of the week. All right, our nugget of the week we're gonna be talking about don't get arced out Now we're actually. This is a Nathan nugget, because I'm actually exploring soundbar technology for the holiday shopping season, for myself.
Mike Gorday:
That's good, because I need to get a new sound.
Nathan Mumm:
Okay, so let's talk about it. So there's a whole bunch of different options. You can use digital optical, which is a wire that comes with a red laser in it to hook up your audio from your television to your soundbars. Very old technology, yeah, my old one had that feature and it didn't work.
Nathan Mumm:
It doesn't work into most of the new televisions that are coming out now I have that on my house and what happens is, every single time I'm on my direct TV receiver, every time somebody talks, it's about two seconds until you actually hear it. Come on out. They cannot keep up with that technology, so now they have HDMI ARC and HDMI E ARC, so let's talk about that.
Mike Gorday:
So HDMI ARC is an older technology.
Nathan Mumm:
It allows you to plug just a standard HDMI cable, nothing special. You plug it from your television into your soundbar and then your soundbar gets the signal because HDMI can do both video and signal at the same time and it broadcasts across the system. Now, hdmi ARC is an old technology, it's not the newer technology, so it has some limitations on how to use it. So it has some limitations on what it can actually support. It can essentially support seven to one channels excuse me, digital, dts, atmos, atmos, digital Plus, but it cannot get to the DTSX, hdmi ARC or other high-end individual items. What you need to look for when you're getting your receiver is the EARC device, hdmi E for Extended ARC. This allows you the best in Dolby Atmos, gives you all your digital plus services and works with all the streaming services that are available out there. Right now, whether you use wireless or wired, the key aspect from your television is the HDMI E ARC. All right, now let's move to our pick of the day.
Speaker 3:
And now our pick of the day for our whiskey tastings. Let's see what bubbles to the top.
Nathan Mumm:
All right, we got the John Jay Bowman single barrel, 100 proof, 55 bucks. Thumbs up. Thumbs up from Mike, thumbs up from Nathan. I know Mark won't be too happy with us, but I thought it was a very smooth and enjoyable selection of whiskey. Now remember, we look forward to seeing you next week and the science of tomorrow starts with the technology of today. Bye-bye, bye-bye.
Speaker 3:
From Apple to Google and everything in between. We're also on YouTube, so check us out on YouTubecom. Slash techtimeradio. All one word we hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did making it for you From all of us at Techtime Radio. Remember, mums the word have a safe and fantastic week.
